Workers who got engaged under the
subsidy reinvestment and empowerment program (SURE-P) were laid off via text
messages, according to Egahi Ada, director of audit under SURE-P’s national
primary health care development agency.

About 159 employees under the
SURE-P scheme, an initiative of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, had sued
the federal and Plateau state governments over alleged unpaid N400 million in
salaries and allowances.

On Monday, Ada disclosed how the
workers were disengaged in his testimony during a cross-examination by Philemon
Dafi, counsel to the workers.

She testified at the National
Industrial Court in Abuja.

“What I know is that we gave them
employment letters which was for a year engagement and thereafter we sent text
messages to all of them disengaging them across the nation, ’’ Ada said.

“We told them in the text
messages that they would be called upon when necessary. This was because the
Sure-P programme was discontinued by the new administration.

“But when we were ready to
re-engage them, we engaged only few of them and not all.’’

The employees, through their
counsel, had alleged in an originating summon that sometimes in 2015 the
government stopped payment of their salaries and allowances without just cause
while they continued to work until the institution of the case before the
court.

On whether Ada knew if out of the
16 defendants, he was the only one that was claiming the programme had ended
with Jonathan administration, he said no.

Kenneth Amadi, the presiding
judge, adjourned the case till May 15, 16 and 17, for continuation of defence.

The claimants included 71
midwives who were earning N40,000 as monthly take home and 85 community
extension workers earning N25,000 each month beside N5,000 accommodation
allowances to all of them.

The SURE-P scheme was established
in 2012 to re-investing the federal government’ssavings from fuel subsidy removal on critical
infrastructure projects and social safety net programmes with direct impact on
the citizens of Nigeria.